1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an electrically-ignited smoker's lighter wherein a capacitor discharges automatically and periodically to ignite a fuel.
2. Description of the Prior Art
An electrically-ignited smoker's lighter is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,779,692. In this patent, a transistorized multivibrator is used to increase the level of voltage from an internal battery to a higher level for charging the capacitor. Since the output of such a multivibrator is symmetrical to the zero level of the output, a full-wave rectifier is used to charge the capacitor. The level of a recified voltage is several tens of volts so that a storage capacitor of large capacity and a step-up transformer having a large turns ratio and a large iron core cross section must be used to sufficiently increase the level of voltage for igniting a fuel gas. Further, in this ignition circuit, there is a recharge-controlling semi-conductor switch constituted by two transistors, two capacitors and three resistors in order to prevent recharging of the storage capacitor for further spark production until a further actuation of the manually operable switch is performed.
Further, German laid open specification No. 1,629,907 discloses a similar ignition circuit. In this patent, a relatively large-sized luminous discharge valve is used to discharge the storage capacitor. However, such discharge valve is shortlived and its firing potential is unstable and changeable.